 Houston Mavericks 67-69  Carolina Cougars 69-74  Spirits of St Louis 74-76
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Quick facts: Founded: 1967 Folded: 1976, but still exists in the NBA for TV Revinue purposes Arena: Titles: Playoffs:Fun Fact
At the conclusion of the 75-76 season the team was to relocate to Salt Lake City and become the Utah Rockies. However, the ABA and NBA decided to merge effectively ending the ABA. The Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets joined the NBA. The Kentucky Colonels and Virginia Squires accepted a buyout and disbanded. The Spirits/Rockies however refused the buyout and wanted to join the NBA. The NBA and Spirits/Rockies came to an agreement where the ownership of the Spirits/Rockies would recived a cut of the leagues TV revinue. This has become one of the most lucrative deals in sports history. Since 1976 the team has collected an estimated 300 million dollars in revinue despite never playing a game. Thus sometimes the Utah Rockies are refered to as the NBA's ghost franchise.
Marvin Barnes drives past Billy Paultz
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Fans today think that the problem of players getting into trouble is a modern issue and that players of the past were more gentlemanly. Most players of yesteryear and today are actually pretty nice guys, even the ones who get into trouble. Very few players have been truly terrible human beings, they just end up with problems and are unable to cope with them in a socially acceptable way so they end up acting out, or they get addicted to drugs. One such player who had their career cut short by acting out and drugs was Marvin Barnes. Barnes is one of the saddest yet most interesting stories in NBA history, yet it is one with a glimmer of hope. Barnes had the nickname "Bad News Marvin" because of his off the court issues.
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links: Time to end the greatest deal in history